To provide for the recognition of the Lumbee Tribe of
North Carolina, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the
Lumbee Recognition
Act.

2.

Preamble

The preamble to the Act of June 7, 1956 (70
Stat. 254), is amended as follows:

(1)

By striking
and at the end of each clause.

(2)

By striking
: Now, therefore, at the end of the last clause and inserting a
semicolon.

(3)

By adding at the
end the following new clauses:

Whereas the Lumbee
Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties in North Carolina are descendants of
coastal North Carolina Indian tribes, principally Cheraw, and have remained a
distinct Indian community since the time of contact with white settlers;

Whereas since 1885 the State of North Carolina has
recognized the Lumbee Indians as an Indian tribe;

Whereas in 1956 the Congress of the United States
acknowledged the Lumbee Indians as an Indian tribe, but withheld from the
Lumbee Tribe the benefits, privileges and immunities to which the Tribe and its
members otherwise would have been entitled by virtue of the Tribe’s status as a
federally recognized tribe; and

Whereas the Congress finds that the Lumbee Indians
should now be entitled to full Federal recognition of their status as an Indian
tribe and that the benefits, privileges and immunities that accompany such
status should be accorded to the Lumbee Tribe: Now, therefore,

.

3.

Federal
recognition

The Act of June 7,
1956 (70 Stat. 254), is amended as follows:

(1)

By striking the
last sentence of the first section.

(2)

By striking
section 2 and inserting the following new sections:

2.(a)

Federal recognition is hereby extended to
the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, as designated as petitioner number 65 by
the Office of Federal Acknowledgement. All laws and regulations of the United
States of general application to Indians and Indian tribes shall apply to the
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and its members.

(b)

Notwithstanding
the first section, any group of Indians in Robeson and adjoining counties,
North Carolina, whose members are not enrolled in the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina as determined under section 3(c), may petition under part 83 of title
25 of the Code of Federal Regulations for acknowledgement of tribal
existence.

3.(a)

The Lumbee Tribe of
North Carolina and its members shall be eligible for all services and benefits
provided to Indians because of their status as members of a federally
recognized tribe. For the purposes of the delivery of such services, those
members of the Tribe residing in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland
counties in North Carolina shall be deemed to be residing on or near an Indian
reservation.

(b)

Upon verification by the Secretary of the
Interior of a tribal roll under subsection (c), the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall develop, in consultation
with the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, a determination of needs to provide
the services to which members of the Tribe are eligible. The Secretary of the
Interior and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall each submit a
written statement of such needs to Congress after the tribal roll is
verified.

(c)

For purposes of
the delivery of Federal services, the tribal roll in effect on the date of the
enactment of this section shall, subject to verification by the Secretary of
the Interior, define the service population of the Tribe. The Secretary’s
verification shall be limited to confirming compliance with the membership
criteria set out in the Tribe’s constitution adopted on November 16, 2001,
which verification shall be completed within 2 years after the date of the
enactment of this section.

4.(a)

The Secretary may take
land into trust for the Lumbee Tribe pursuant to this Act. An application to
take land located within Robeson County, North Carolina, into trust under this
section shall be treated by the Secretary as an on reservation
trust acquisition under part 151 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulation (or a
successor regulation).

(b)

The tribe may not
conduct gaming activities as a matter of claimed inherent authority or under
the authority of any Federal law, including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
(25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) or under any regulations thereunder promulgated by the
Secretary or the National Indian Gaming Commission.

5.(a)

The State of North
Carolina shall exercise jurisdiction over—

(1)

all criminal
offenses that are committed on; and

(2)

all civil actions
that arise on, lands located within the State of North Carolina that are owned
by, or held in trust by the United States for, the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina, or any dependent Indian community of the Lumbee Tribe of North
Carolina.

(b)

The Secretary of the Interior is
authorized to accept on behalf of the United States, after consulting with the
Attorney General of the United States, any transfer by the State of North
Carolina to the United States of any portion of the jurisdiction of the State
of North Carolina described in subsection (a) pursuant to an agreement between
the Lumbee Tribe and the State of North Carolina. Such transfer of jurisdiction
may not take effect until 2 years after the effective date of the
agreement.

(c)

The provisions of this section shall
not affect the application of section 109 of the Indian Child Welfare Act of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 1919).

6.

There are authorized to be appropriated
such sums as are necessary to carry out this
Act.